"Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me."

"Listen!"  This establishes our fundamental relationship to God: we are listeners.  God speaks and we listen.  This is the command we have from the Father: "this is my beloved son, listen to him!" (Luke 9.35)  This is the example of Mary "who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying."  Of her Jesus said "Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10.42)  Of course it is unthinkable that our actions not be aligned with what we hear; ours is an active listening.  Even so we have the admonishment from James: "But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves." (James 1.22)

Now, to listen requires us to first shut up.  It requires us to move aside from the noise of the distracting world, even if only in heart.  "But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret." (Matthew 6.6)  Listening is an act of humility.  It is stepping aside from our own self-direction and humbly acknowledging that we are not our own masters; we are in need of everything.

"I am standing at the door."  This door can be seen as the church.  It can also be seen as the human heart.  How awesome to think that Christ is there!  How faithful would we remain if we kept aware of his constant presence.  He "stands" and is thus always ready for action, the action of entering our lives.

"Knocking."  Christ, through whom the heavens and every human soul has been created, humbles himself so low as to stand outside the door of our heart and ask permission to enter.  Though he created us, redeemed us and owns us, he will not enter into us except by our permission.

So far we see the fundamental humility of silence required of us in prayer  Then we actively begin listening to God.  When we listen through countless means - through creation, the Church, the Word, the silence of our rooms - we begin to hear the gentle knock of Christ at our hearts.  We are humbled beyond measure at the thought of our God coming to us and seeking communion with us.

"If you hear my voice and open the door."  Two things are required of us here: to hear Christ's voice which always speaks to us in silence and recollection and to open the door of our hearts.  We open our hearts when we invite him in to take full possession of us.  This opening presupposes repentance from our sins.  What host is satisfied to invite such a guest into a dirty house?  But do not think you must clean out your heart before inviting Christ in, or else you will never invite him in.  Open the door - he will help you clean.  This opening also presupposes a fundamental opening to the needs of our brothers and sisters.

"I will come in to you."  A sublime presence of Christ in ourselves, thus we become "temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 3.16-17), removing from us the possibility of lewdness.

"Eat with you and you with me."  How can Christ possibly want to eat with us?  It is more easily understood that, being the fount of love he would want us to eat with/of him but here we see him tenderly wanting to eat with us.  What do we have to offer God for company?  His Holy Spirit in us.  It is the presence of the gift of the Holy Spirit in us, won for us through Christ's redemption, that is the heavenly odor which draws the Son.

And so we see how our prayer, and indeed our lives, is a participation in the very life of the Trinity.